Jarrod Bowen predicted to his dad that he was going to break his England scoring duck this week.
The West Ham forward grabbed England’s fourth goal in their 5-0 romp over the Republic of Ireland, which ended Lee Carsley’s reign as interim boss on a high.
Bowen’s strike, which came with his first touch just seconds after entering the pitch, capped off a crazy week, which saw him get a late call-up to the squad following a raft of withdrawals.
Jarrod Bowen was delighted to score his first England goal (John Walton/PA)
“It is an honour to play for England every time I get the opportunity. So to score that first goal was always on my mind,” he said.
“I wasn’t meant to be in the squad, I knew when the manager called me and asked me if I was willing to come in it was a no-brainer. It’s an honour to come in.
“I said to my dad this could be my time, you need a little bit of luck and I got that.
“I said it could be my time to score for England. I said it when ‘Cars’ rang me last Sunday.
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“It’s obviously a difficult situation when you are not in the squad and then to get called up.
“For me it was a different situation to one that I have been in before but I thought this could be an opportunity for me to score and it paid off.”
Bowen’s goal came from a clever free-kick where Jude Bellingham teed him up on the edge of the area. But things might have turned out differently had coach Ashley Cole got his way.
“I was meant to take the free-kick,” Bowen revealed. “Ashley Cole told me to take it and put it at the near post but ‘H’ (Harry Kane) and Jude had something up their sleeves.
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“I was just getting in position, trying to look not interested so I didn’t get marked.
“It was a beautiful ball by Jude and I hit it cleanly and I just looked up and saw the goalkeeper wasn’t diving and it hit the back of the net.
“At the time I thought ‘goal’ and then I was walking back and thought ‘if this referee puts his hand to his ear and asks for VAR I’m going to lose it’. But it was just a relief and on another day I could have had more, but I was happy with the first one.
“It’s probably a relief more than anything.”